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UC'SB   LIBRARY 


AN 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 


PILGRIM    SOCIETY   OF   PLYMOUTH, 


DECEMBER  22,    1834 


BY    GEO.    W.    BLAGDEN. 


V 


BOSTON: 

LIGHT   &   HORTON,   1    &   3   CORNHILL. 

1835. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1835, 

By  Light  &  Hortoh, 

In  the  Cleik'a  Office  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


,v 


PLYMOUTH,  Dec.  52,  1SS4. 

Ret.  George  W.  Blagden. 

Sir  :  In  obedience   to  a  Vote  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Pilgrim  Society,  1 
have  the  pleasure  to  make  the  following  communication : 

*  At  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Pilgrim  Society,  holden  in  Plymouth, 
Dec.  22, 1834, 

*  Voted,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Trustees  be  presented  to  the  Rev.  Geok^je 
W.  Blagden,  for  his  interesting  and  eloquent  Discourse,  delivered  this  day — 
and  that  a  copy  be  requested  for  piiblication.' 

With  great  esteem  and  regard, 

I  am,  Sir, 

Very  respectfully, 

J  NO.    B.    THOMAS,  Cor.  Sec.  Pil.  Soc. 


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ADDRESS. 


The  occasion  on  which  I  speak  is  not  scanty  of  materials  for 
an  address  like  this.  It  is  impossible  for  any  one,  acquainted  with 
the  history  of  New  England,  to  stand  on  this  rock,  and  look  on 
these  scenes,  unmoved.  The  greatest  difficulty  arises  from  the 
multitude  of  thoughts  and  feelings  which  crowd  in  upon  the  mind, 
and  render  it  hard  to  meet  the  interest  already  excited  ; — a  diffi- 
culty increased  by  the  fact,  that  some  of  the  first  intellects  in  our 
land  have  devoted  to  this  subject  their  noblest  contemplations. 

It  is  a  characteristic  feature  in  the  history  of  man,  that  great 
effects  frequently, — I  may  say  generally, — proceed  from  compara- 
tively slight  causes.  The  fame  of  the  most  renowned  individual 
may  be  the  result,  principally,  of  a  single  act  of  his  life,  performed 
in  a  few  moments,  though  the  whole  period  of  his  past  existence 
may  have  been  an  unconscious  preparation  for  that  hour.  The 
glory  of  the  most  celebrated  nations  of  the  world  may  be  often 
traced,  not  so  much  to  a  long  series  of  brilliant  achievements,  as  to 
some  isolated  acts  clearly  and  gloriously  exhibiting  the  influence  of 
great  principles.  On  this  account,  a  thing  may  be  intrinsically 
small,  but  relatively  magnificent, — as  the  centre  of  a  circle  is  but 
a  point,  while  the  sweep  of  its  circumference  may  include  the  in- 
finite of  space. 

It  is  in  this  light  that  I  am  fond  of  contemplating  the  landing  of 
the  Pilgrim  fathers.  The  transaction  was,  in  itself,  compared 
with  other  events  in  the  diversified  history  of  man,  of  little  mo- 
ment. A  few  wearied  men  and  women,  wanderers  from  their 
country,  and  kindred,  and   father's   house  ;   with   circumscribed 


pecuniary  means,  and  plain  garments,  and  no  '  pomp  and  cere- 
mony of  state,' — land  from  a  ship's  boat,  on  a  desolate  and 
savage  shore.  In  stonn  and  tempest  they  begin  their  settlement ; 
and  through  threatening  diseases,  and  frequent  deaths,  they  carry 
it  on  to  a  successful  consummation.  In  this  fact  itself^  there  is 
little  of  peculiar  importance.  Other  colonies,  of  other  men,  have 
faced  similar  trials,  and  passed  through  similar  vicissitudes,  to  simi- 
lar temporal  results.  Perhaps  many  of  the  existing  generation,  in 
Germany  and  in  England,  looked  on  that  act  of  our  fathers  as  a 
little, — even  a  contemptible  undertaking  !  It  is  when  you  connect 
with  this  transaction  the  principles  in  which  it  originated, — the 
moral,  intellectual  and  political  events  it  has  produced,  and  is  at 
this  hour  producing  ; — it  is  when  you  contemplate  its  connection 
with  posterity,  rather  than  its  relation  to  the  age  that  gave  it  birth, 
— that  it  swells  into  aft  importance  impossible  for  the  speaker  fully 
to  express  ;  and  of  which  it  is  difficult  to  form  any  adequate  con- 
ception. When  you  reflect  on  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  in  this 
light,  it  contains  volumes  of  practical  instruction  to  all  the  children 
of  men.  It  shows  them  how  the  believed  realities  of  the  spiritual 
world  can  have  a  manifest  and  wonderful  bearing  on  the  transac- 
tions and  duties  of  the  present  life.  It  summons  them  to  behold 
the  foundation  of  an  empire  of  freemen,  in  that  long-boat  from  a 
small  and  weather-beaten  bark.  It  exhibits  to  them  a  small  matter, 
kindling  a  great  fire,  and  illuminating  the  civilized  world ; — a  little 
leaven,  in  its  silent,  but  sure  and  still  operating  power,  leavening 
the  whole  mass  of  human  society  ; — a  single  grain  becoming  a  great 
tree,  so  that  the  fowls  of  the  air  may  come  and  lodge  in  its  branches ! 

Let  me  ask  you,  then,  to  stand  with  me  on  this  spot,  where  so 
many  influences  concentrate  ;  from  which  so  much  of  light  has 
radiated  over  two  hemispheres  of  mankind ;  and,  however  feeble 
be  our  vision,  look  at  past,  present  and  future  scenes, — drawing 
from  such  a  prospect  whatever  of  practical  instruction  we  may  be 
able  to  receive.  In  a  word, — I  would  notice  and  illustrate  some 
of  those  great  principles  associated  with  the  event  we  celebrate. 

We  see,  in  the  history  of  the  Pilgrims,  an  interesting  develope- 
ment  of  the  truth,  that  the  greatest  changes  in  this  world  have 
been  effected  by  the  gradual  operation  of  providential  causes.  Of 
this,  it  is  apprehended  there  can  be  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  any 


one  who  has  cast  even  a  careless  eye  on  the  page  ofliistory.  The 
reformation  was  not  the  work  of  a  moment,  or  produced  by  the 
sudden  efforts  of  great  minds.  Luther  himself  had  no  idea  at  its 
commencement,  of  the  degree  of  influence  he  was  afterward  to 
exert  over  the  destinies  of  the  human  race.  At  one  time,  he  was 
on  the  eve  of  reconciliation  with  the  Pope,  and  his  voice  of  warn- 
ing and  strength  was  well  nigh  hushed  forever.  It  was  by  the 
gradual  progress  of  the  absurd  system  of  indulgences,  and  the 
gross  violation  of  all  ideas  of  common  justice  connected  with  it, 
that  his  soul  was  first  aroused ;  and  it  was  by  as  gradual  a  devel- 
operaent  of  other  abominations  of  Popery,  that  his  spirit  was  '  stirred 
within  him '  to  assume  an  higher  stand,  and  a  firmer  tone,  in  the 
successive  steps  of  that  eventful  crisis.  Calvin,  awakened  by  him, 
proceeded  yet  farther,  declaring  the  truth  still  more  clearly,  and 
establishing,  as  we  believe,  a  still  purer  system.  It  was  his  en- 
counter also,  with  the  Popish  jninions  of  Francis  the  First,  that  pro- 
duced his  celebrated  Institutes  of  the  Christian  Religion.  A  similar 
result  is  exhibited  in  the  history  of  the  Puritans.  It  was  not  sud- 
denly that  they  arrived  at  their  conclusions.  The  selfish  and  uxo- 
rious quan'el  of  Henry  the  Eighth  with  the  Pope  was  the  opening 
door  of  light  to  their  minds  ;  and  it  was  only  by  successive  steps 
afterwards,  and  especially  by  intercourse  with  the  reformers  in 
Geneva  and  Germany,  that  they  at  length  formed  their  clearer  theo- 
ries of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  In  these  and  most  other  great 
moral  and  political  changes  among  mankind,  it  will  be  perceived  that 
their  original  movers  and  promoters  have  been  led  along,  well  nigh 
against  their  wills,  and  altogether  contrary  to  their  expectations,  by 
the  gradual  developement  of  circumstances.  Even  Cromwell, 
Hampden,  and  Pym,  those  great  leaders  in  subsequent  changes, 
were  on  board  ship,  in  the  Thames,  ready  to  embark  for  this  coun- 
try, when  they  were  detained  by  an  order  of  the  council ;  and  the 
history  of  England  was  affected  for  generations  by  that  single 
act !  Such  are  the  facts  on  record.  In  respect  to  the  theory  to 
be  drawn  from  them,  different  minds  may  arrive  at  varying  conclu- 
sions. But,  to  myself,  it  appears  to  be  a  clear  one,  that  in  the 
words  of  the  great  dramatist  of  England — 

'  Tlierc  's  a  Divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
Rough-hew  tlir.ni  how  we  will,' 


8 


The  Almighty  has  ever  gone  before  man,  by  his  providence,  in 
advancing  great  changes  on  the  earth,  as  He  led  Israel  by  the 
pillar  of  cloud  and  fire.  In  making  this  remark,  it  is  not  necessary 
to  enter  on  any  speculations  touching  the  mysterious  and  sublime 
connection  existing  between  Divine  and  human  agency,  while  the 
freedom  of  the  latter  is  preserved.  I  only  state  the  fact, — which, 
I  think,  is  undeniable, — a  fact  which  no  one,  who  prays  to  the 
Deity,  can  fail  to  recognize  ;  and  when  truly  believed,  is  calculated 
to  exert  a  most  powerful  and  salutary  influence,  on  the  human 
mind.  On  this  account,  I  have  introduced  it  here  ;  since  it  pre- 
sents to  us  another  great  principle  developed  in  the  history  of  our 
fathers,  iTTs  that  they  only  who  admit  the  universal  agency,  and 
obey  the  laws  of  Jehovah,  are  likely  to  discover  and  maintain  the 
great  principles  of  just  government. 

Let  it  once  be  practically  admitted,  that  the  Almighty  does 
exert  this  agency  over  the  movements  of  mankind,  in  harmony  with 
their  accountable  being  ;  and,  I  think  the  following  result  will 
ensue : — Men  will  feel  the  necessity  of  obeying  his  laws.  Con- 
vinced that  secret  things  belong  to  Jehovah,  they  will  be  careful 
to  regard  the  things  He  has  revealed,  as  belonging  to  themselves  ; 
so  that  nothing  secret  shall  turn  to  their  disadvantage,  but  all  things 
work  together  for  their  good.  The  principle  may  be  illustrated 
thus  : — Nature,  which  is,  in  truth,  only  another  name  for  the  God 
of  nature,  is  acknowledged  by  her  philosophers  as  pervading  all 
things  by  certain  laws,  which  they  are  careful  to  discern  and  re- 
spect, that  they  may  use  her  works  to  advantage,  knowing  that  she 
is  to  be  conquered  by  obeying  her  laws :  and  confident,  that  if  these 
are  obeyed,  the  surest  path  is  opened  for  future  discoveries,  and 
still  greater  advantages.  Now,  who  does  not  see,  and  will  not  ad- 
mit, that  this  recognition  of  nature  as  universally  prevalent,  by  the 
operation  of  certain  fixed  and  immutable  statutes,  is  the  gi-eat 
stimulant  to  exertion  in  the  philosophers  who  study  her.  If, — to 
carry  out  their  own  figure, — ^the  goddess  were  not  omnipresent ; 
or,  if  she  were  fickle,  and  did  not  abide  by  fixed  principles,  there 
would  be  little  or  no  motive  for  discovering  and  obeying  her  com- 
mands. But,  ever  present,  and  ever  constant  as  she  is,  men  study 
her  instructions,  and  strive  to  please  her,  that  she  may  present  to 
them  yet  newer  and  more  glorious  revelations  of  her  mysteries. 


until,  like  Newton,  her  favorite  child,  proceeding  step  by  step, 
under  her  unerring  guidance,  they  comprehend  and  demonstrate 
the  movements  of  earth  and  of  ocean, — of  stars,  systems  and 
worlds !  It  is  thus,  by  practically  acknowledging  the  Divine 
agency,  in  the  whole  system  of  nature,  that  the  wonderful  secrets 
of  her  kingdom  are  revealed,  and  the  innumerable  blessings  flowing 
from  them  participated. 

The  same  principle  applies  to  the  intellectual,  political,  and  moral 
world.  Let  the  universal  agency  of  Jehovah  be  also  practically 
acknowledged  here,  as  operating  by  laws  adapted  to  it,  and  there 
will  be  the  same  desire  to  obey  those  laws  as  they  are  made  known, 
while  obedience  to  them  will  result  in  a  corresponding  discovery 
of  great  principles,  and  the  enjoyment  of  proportionable  intellectual 
and  moral  blessings.  The  fathers  of  New-England  did  thus  ac- 
knowledge God  in  all  their  ways,  and  He  did  thus  direct  their 
steps.  Hume  admits  this  to  have  been  a  very  marked  feature  in 
their  character,  affirming  that  it  was  to  it  they  were  indebted  for 
their  clear  ideas  concerning  ecclesiastical  and  political  liberty,  and 
that,  as  an  inevitable  result,  to  them  the  English  people  owe  all 
the  freedom  of  their  constitution.*  Nor,  when  you  investigate  the 
state  of  the  case,  is  this  wonderful.  As  the  exaltation  of  the  Eter- 
nal, in  nature,  leads  to  the  study  and  firm  declaration  of  her  laws, 
insuring  great  clearness  of  intellect,  and  future  discoveries  and  ad- 
vantages ;  so,  this  acknowledgment  of  the  Deity  in  the  moral  world 
produces  a  similar  result,  as  to  clearness  in  comprehending,  and 
firmness  in  declaring  and  advancing  the  great  laws  of  moral  and  po- 
litical freedom.  '  If  a  man  meet  a  dog  alone,' — writes  Hume,  quoting 
from  a  speech  of  one  of  the  puritans  in  Parliament,  the  sentiment  of 
which,  he  says,  is  borrowed  from  Lord  Bacon, — '  If  a  man  meet 
a  dog  alone,  the  dog  is  fearful,  though  ever  so  fierce,  by  nature : 
but,  if  the  dog  have  his  master  with  him,  he  will  out  upon  that 
man,  from  whom  he  fled  before.  This  shows,  that  lower  natures, 
when  backed  by  higher,  increase  in  courage  and  strength  :  and 
certainly  man,  being  backed  with  omnipotency,  is  a  kind  of  omni- 
potent creature.  All  things  are  possible  to  him  that  believes ;  and 
where   all    things  are    possible,  there  is  a  kind   of  omnipotency. 


♦  Hist,  of  Eng.  vol.  III.  76,  372,  690. 
2 


m 

Wherefore,  let  it  be  the  unanimous  consent  and  resolution  of  us 
all,  to  nrake  a  vow  and  covenant,  henceforth,  to  hold  fast  our  God 
and  our  religion ;  and  then  shall  we  henceforth  expect,  with  cer- 
tainty, happiness  in  this  world.'* 

It  was  on  this  simple  but  mighty  principle  that  our  puritan 
fathers  felt  and  acted,  amid  all  the  scenes  of  human  life,  whether 
personal,  domestic,  political,  or  ecclesiastical.  And,  in  its  legiti- 
mate operation,  it  produced  on  their  conduct  the  following  re- 
sults. Exalting  Jehovah  as  they  did,  and  recognizing  His  univer- 
sal agency,  they  obeyed  His  law.  And  they  found,  as  one  of  the 
first  ideas  suggested  by  the  revelation  containing  it,  especially  as  it 
is  magnified  and  made  honorable  in  the  Gospel,  that  it  was  reveal- 
ed for  the  good  of  all  men,  under  the  whole  heaven.  Conse- 
quently, the  doctrine  that  every  man,  and  every  class  of  men,  are 
to  five  and  labor,  in  obedience  to  the  Gospel,  for  the  public  good, 
was  a  legitimate,  and  inevitable  deduction  from  such  premises.  In 
a  moment,  therefore,  to  their  minds,  all  systems  in  the  state  not 
promoting  the  highest  good  of  the  whole  people,  and  all  in  the 
church  not  advancing  the  highest  good  of  the  whole  body  of  the 
redeemed,  were,  as  to  all  the  legitimate  purposes  of  government, 
null  and  void,  and  ought  to  be  overthrown.  In  contrast  with  pub- 
lic good,  the  crowns  of  kings,  and  the  titles,  insignia  and  privileges 
of  nobles  were,  to  them,  but  as  the  gewgaws  of  the  savages  among 
whom  they  found  a  refuge ;  and  the  mitres  of  bishops,  and  the 
gowns  of  priests,  but  as  the  garnishing  of  the  sepulchre.  How  do 
you  promote  the  greatest  moral  and  intellectual  good  of  the  peo- 
ple ? — was  the  question  they  asked  the  one :  What  are  you  doing 
for  the  glory  of  Christ  and  the  church  ? — was  the  interrogatory  they 
propounded  to  the  other  :  And,  while  the  questions  remained  un- 
answered, they  dissented  from  both,  and  resolved  to  be  the  slaves 
_^f neither!        />  .       .  ..,  - 

It  is  not  maintained  that  the  great  principles  of  liberty  appear- 
ed immediately  to  our  fathers,  in  all  the  clearness  and  force  with 
which,  through  their  instrumentality,  they  now  present  themselves 
to  their  descendants.  But,  it  is  affirmed,  that  in  resigning  them- 
selves to  this  great  duty  of  obedience  to  God,  in  a  firm  adherence 
to  His  laws,  they  necessarily  embraced  the  very  nucleus  of  politi- 


/  Hisl.  of  England,  vol.  III.  p.  440. 

r 


^-     Nil/  "  ■  "■' '" 


11 

cal  and  ecclesiastical  freedom;  and  cherished  in  their  souls,  that, 
which  only  waited  for  circumstances  to  draw  it  forth  into  active 
existence  and  beauty — as  the  seed  of  the  earth  springs  forth  to 
vegetation  and  maturity,  under  the  favoring  rains,  and  sun,  and 
breezes  of  heaven.  This,  their  one  leading  characteristic  of  re- 
sponsibility to  the  Deity,  contained,  in  itself,  the  germ  of  correct 
principles  in  all  civil  and  ecclesiastical  government.  It  caused 
other  things  to  assume  clearness  and  order  around  it ;  as  the  n)ag- 
net,  dropped  in  the  sand,  influences  the  grains  that  it  affects,  to 
assume  positions,  agreeably  to  their  respective  polarity. 

That  this  is  not  a  theory  invented  for  the  present  occasion  will 
be  evident  to  any  one  who  consults  their  history,  and  notices  how 
wonderfully  their  sentiments  conceining  government,  were  struck 
out  by  the  fire  and  the  hammer  of  the  word  of  God.  ]\Iihon,  for 
example,  in  his  essay  on  'the  ready  and  easy  way  to  estabhsh  a 
free  commonwealth,'  writes  thus  :  '  God  in  much  displeasure  gave 
a  king  to  the  Israelites,  and  imputed  it  a  sin  to  them  that  they 
sought  one.  But  Christ  apparendy  forbids  his  disciples  to  admit 
of  any  such  heathenish  government,  '  The  kings  of  the  Gentiles,' 
saith  he,  'exercise  lordship  over  them  ;'  and  they  that  'exercise 
authority  upon  them  are  called  benefactors ;  but  ye  shall  not  be 
so ;  but  he  that  is  greatest  among  you,  let  him  be  as  the  younger ; 
and  he  that  is  chief,  as  he  that  serveth.'  *  *  *  '  And  what 
government,'  he  continues,  'comes  nearer  to  this  precept  of  Christ, 
than  a  free  commonwealth ;  wlierein  they  who  are  greatest  are 
perpetual  servants  and  drudges  to  the  public,  at  their  own  cost  and 
charges ;  neglect  their  own  affairs,  yet  are  not  elevated  above  their 
brethren;  live  soberly  in  their  families,  walk  the  street  as  other 
men,  may  be  spoken  to  freely,  familiarly,  friendly,  without  adora- 
tion? Whereas  a  king  must  be  adored  like  a  demigod,  with  a 
dissolute  and  haughty  court  about  him,  of  vast  expense  and  luxury, 
masks  and  revels,  to  the  debauching  of  our  prime  gentry,  both 
male  and  female,  not  in  their  pastimes  only,  but  in  earnest,  by  the 
loose  employments  of  court  service,  which  will  be  then  thought 
honorable.  There  will  be  a  queen  of  no  less  charge  ;  in  most 
likelihood  outlandish  and  a  papist,  besides  a  queen-mother  such 
already  ;  together  with  both  their  courts  and  numerous  train  ;  then 
a  royal  issue,  and  ere  long  severally  their  sumptuous  courts  ;  to 


12 

the  multiplying  of  a  servile  crew,  not  of  servants  only,  but  of  no- 
bility and  gentry,  bred  up  then  to  the  hopes,  not  of  public,  but  of 
court  offices,  to  be  stewards,  chaoiberlains,  ushers,  grooms — *  *  * 
and  the  lower  their  minds  debased  with  court  opinions,  contrary  to 
all  virtue  and  reformation,  the  haughtier  will  be  their  pride  and 
profuseness.' 

The  same  principles  are  involved  in  the  proceedings  of  the  pil- 
grims in  their  'solemn  combination  as  a  body  politic,'  formed  at 
Cape  Cod,  more  than  a  month  before  they  landed  here ;  and  still 
more  clearly  in  their  subsequent  acts.  The  public  good  is  ever 
recognized,  with  great  emphasis,  as  the  end  of  all  government : 
while  Davenport  and  his  companions,  at  New-Haven,  resolved, 
formally,  to  be  guided  in  all  their  principles  of  legislation  by  the 
word  of  God. 

But,  there  was  another  point  to  be  attained,  and  another  evil 
to  be  avoided,  by  our  ancestors.  To  escape  from  the  tyranny  of 
unjust  kings,  and  the  domination  of  lords  spiritual,  was  not  to  be 
delivered  from  the  tyranny  of  a  lawless  democracy,  or  the  passions 
of  an  ungovernable  mob.  And  therefore,  the  same  solemn  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  Creator,  which,  in  its  legitimate  influence, 
led  them  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  despotism,  and  cast  aside  the 
mummeries  of  superstition,  taught  them  at  the  same  time  that  the 
people  must  be  rightly  instructed,  or  they  did  but  place  themselves 
in  the  power  of  a  monster  more  horrible  than  had  ever  been  pro- 
duced by  despotism  or  Rome.  It  was  their  great  endeavor,  there- 
fore, in  the  midst  of  the  most  trying  and  unpropitious  circumstan- 
ces, to  spread  abroad  among  all  men  that  fear  of  God  which  is  the 
beginning  of  wisdom,  and  that  departure  from  evil  which  alone  is 
understanding:  deeply  convinced  that  where  there  is  no  vision, 
the  people  perish.  Hence,  they  had  not  been  seventeen  years  in 
the  wilds  of  New-England,  before  we  find  them  dedicating  Har- 
vard College  to  Christ  and  the  church  ;  rearing  it  '  to  advance 
learning  and  perpetuate  it  to  posterity ; ' — and  also  establishing  free 
schools  throughout  all  their  villages.  You  find  them  ever  paying 
the  strictest  attention  to  every  ordinance  of  God,  for  the  sake  of 
man :  devoting  special  attention  to  the  preaching  of  His  word, 
which  they  were  peculiar  for  loving,  in  contradistinction  to  Papists, 
ijjjd  eyej?  the  Conformists  of  the  Church  of  England :  and  mani- 


13 

Testing,  at  the  same  time,  the  most  punctilious  respect  for  the  Sab- 
bath, that  they  might  sustain  among  themselves,  and  throughout 
the  whole  community,  an  ever  operating  conviction  of  responsibili- 
ty to  God.  And,  while  this  regard  for  the  King  of  kings,  in  all 
their  ways,  permitted  them  to  submit  to  the  tyranny  of  no  eartbly 
potentate,  whether  political  or  ecclesiastical,  it,  at  tbe  same  time, 
made  them  ready,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  to  acknowledge  and 
honor  all  those  distinctions  in  society  originating  in  intellectual  and 
moral  capacities.  So  that  while  they  would  submit  to  no  unjust 
laws,  they  were,  emphatically,  the  friends  of  order.  Scarcely  any 
fact  in  their  history  stands  out  in  bolder  relief,  than  their  willing- 
ness and  anxiety  to  render  to  moral  and  intellectual  merit,  tbe  hom- 
age of  their  respect,  obedience  and  love.  It  was  from  diis  spirit, 
that  their  uncouth,  but  feehng  attempts  at  poetry  originated,  in 
honor  of  Bradford,  Hooker,  Cotton,  Norton,  Prince,  and  odicr 
worthies,  whose  praises  are  sung  in  '  New-England's  Memorial,' 

In  ^ort,  it  is  impossible  to  read  any  history  of  the  Puritans, 
even  with  a  very  slight  degree  of  attention,  and  not  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  was  this,  their  practical  recognition  of  tbe  Di- 
vine agency  and  their  own  accountability,  which  principally  modi- 
fied and  directed  them  in  all  their  conduct.  In  giving  to  it  this 
prominence,  therefore,  I  am  not  so  much  under  the  influence  of 
professional  bias,  as  I  am  the  faithful  recorder  of  indisputable  truth. 
Hume,  as  we  have  already  seen,  admits  this  to  have  been  a  promi- 
nent feature  in  their  character.  A  most  eloquent  writer  in  the 
Edinburgh  Review,  often  cited  on  occasions  like  this,  directly  re- 
fers their  nobleness  and  independent  firmness  to  this  cause.  And 
it  need  scarcely  be  said,  to  those  who  have  read  his  history,  that 
it  is  continually  implied  and  referred  to,  by  Neal,  the  principal  his- 
torian of  their  lives  and  characters.  This  principle  guided  and 
sustained  them,  in  all  their  domestic,  as  well  as  public  transactions. 
In  choosing  their  place  of  abode,  though  to  reach  it,  they  crossed 
the  ocean,  and  penetrated  a  howling  wilderness  in  the  depth  of 
winter, — the  conviction  that  God  and  liberty  were  there,  made 
them  cheerfully  call  it  their  country.  There  can  be  little  doubt 
that  this,  as  truly  as  the  peculiar  nature  of  their  circumstances, 
led  them  to  that  equal  division  of  land,  which  politicians  tell  us 
is  so  great  a  safeguard  of  freedom.     In  joy  and   in   sorrow — in 


14 

weakness  and  strength — in  danger  and  safety — in  prosperity  and 
adversity — with  friends  and  foes — in  the  court  and  in  the  camp — 
amid  the  war-whoops  of  untutored  savages  and  the  dwellings  and 
etiquette  of  civilized  man,  they  acknowledged  God  in  all  their 
ways,  and  were  emphatically  men  of  praise  and  prayer. 

Most,  if  not  all  of  what  we  may  dare  to  term  their  faults,  arose 
from  their  carrying  out  this  principle — in  the  universal  proneness 
of  human  nature — to  an  inordinate  and  unwarrantable  extreme ; 
and,  like  the  good  man  of  the  poet, — 

« E'en  their  failings  lean'd  on  virtue's  side.' 

How  natural  was  it,  for  example,  that  men,  who  thus  recognized 
the  Divine  agency,  in  all  things,  should  ascend  directly  to  that 
agency,  in  their  meditations,  when  beholding  any  appearances  in 
the  natural  world,  for  which  they  could  not  satisfactorily  account, 
by  any  laws  of  nature  previously  discovered.  It  was  therefore  the 
case,  that  if  a  comet  appeared  in  the  heavens,  and  any  of  their 
great  political  or  clerical  worthies  had  died,  even  within  months  of 
its  advent,  the  event  was  generally  connected  with  their  death,  and 
appeared  in  the  heavens  as  an  evil  omen  of  the  wrath  of  God  for 
their  sins,  or, — 


■ '  from  its  horrid  hair, 


Shook  pestilence  and  war.' 

They  have  been  accused  of  paying  too  great  and  scrupulous  an 
attention  to  little  things ;  but  they  associated  those  things  with 
God,  and  their  duty  to  His  government.  Like  their  own  immor- 
tal acts  on  this  rock,  though  in  themselves  small,  they  were  rela- 
tively great,  and  in  their  eyes,  of  the  utmost  importance  to  present 
and  future  generations.  Especially  was  the  dress  of  the  clergy — 
a  chief  ground  of  their  non-conformity — associated  with  all  the 
enormities  and  absurdities  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  It  has  there- 
fore been  well  observed,  that  '  the  wisdom  of  zeal  for  any  object 
is  not  to  be  measured  by  the  particular  nature  of  that  object,  but 
by  the  nature  of  the  principle,  which  the  circumstances  of  the 
times,  or  of  society,  have  identified  with  that  object.'  Judging  our 
fathers  by  such  a  rule,  their  zeal  in  adhering  to  principle  in  little 
things,  will  be  seen  to  have  been  neither  surprising  nor  unreasona- 


15 

ble.  Are  they  not,  In  this  respect,  an  example  to  be  imitated  by 
their  descendants  ? 

It  has  been  said  that  they  were  gloomy,  and  austere  :  nor,  are 
we  disposed  to  deny  that  there  was  an  appearance  of  such  a  char- 
acter in  many  things  we  have  heard  concerning  them.  But, 
allowing  that  what  has  been  thus  reported  is  true,  it  will  be 
found  on  a  candid  examination,  that  they  were  the  subjects  of 
a  joy  with  which  the  stranger  intermeddleth  not — unspeakable, 
and  full  of  glory.  Blessed  with  a  conscience  clear  in  the  sight  of 
the  Deity,  their  pleasures  were,  doubtless,  as  superior  to  those  of 
the  sensual  Charles  II.,  or  the  boisterous  revelry  of  the  cavaliers, 
as  the  calm  delights  of  innocence  are  greater  tlian  the  unnatural 
levity  of  guilt.  Theirs  was  not  indeed  the  laughter  which  is  mad, 
in  the  midst  of  which  the  heart  is  sorrowful, — it  was  the  calm  sun- 
shine of  the  soul — obscured,  we  are  ready  to  admit,  occasionally, 
by  clouds — for  they  lived  in  a  stormy  time — but  still  leaving 
light  and  ineffable  glory  behind  : — for,  amid  all  the  inner  chambers 
of  their  souls,  there  was  comparative  purity  and  peace  ;  and  they 
must  have  been  the  dwelling  places  of  a  peculiar  joy.  A  joy 
which  led  them,  it  may  be,  to  value  too  lighdy  some  of  the  inno- 
cent pleasures  of  life, — but,  which  cast  even  these  aside,  rather 
from  its  own  intrinsic  greatness,  than  from  any  morbid  misery  of 
mind.  In  contrasting  the  moral  pleasures,  which  must  have  been 
theirs,  with  the  lesser  delights  they  may  have  too  much  slighted, 
it  were  not  unreasonable  to  ask  their  accuser,  in  the  language  of 
the  Dane  to  his  mother : 

'  Could  you  on  this  fair  mountain  leave  to  feed, 
And  batten  on  this  moor .' ' 

With  all  their  disdain  of  those  pleasures  that  not  unfrequently  ener- 
vate a  people,  and  accompany  and  precede  the  decline  and  fall 
of  states,  they  did  cultivate  and  experience,  in  a  high  degree, 
those  moral  joys  found  in  the  domestic  circle,  amid  the  pure  and 
social  intercourse  of '  wife,  children,  and  friends.'  Numerous  passa- 
ges might  be  cited  from  their  history,  as  evidences  of  this  ;  while 
with  respect  to  both  these  points  in  their  character — their  tenacious 
adherence  to  principle  in  little  things,  and  their  superiority  to  some 
common  pleasures,  so  often  alleged  by  those  who  would  obscure 
the  brightness  of  their  fame,  it  is  a  reasonable  question,  whether 


16 

their  ancient  rigor  may  not  be  more  favorable  to  free  institutions, 
tlian  the  modern  levity  of  those,  who  would  treat  that  rigor  with 
a  sneer. 

I  have  thus  developed,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  the  true  prin- 
ciples which,  it  is  conceived,  should  guide  us  in  attempting  a  fair 
analysis  of  the  character  of  the  Pilgrims.  They  consist  in  a  clear 
and  practical  acknowledgment  of  a  universal  Divine  agent,  and  a 
corresponding  obedience  to  the  laws  of  his  natural  and  moral  gov- 
ernment. It  was  this  which  raised  valleys,  sunk  mountains,  and 
annihilated  oceans  before  them,  in  their  flight  from  the  house  of 
bondage  to  this  Canaan  of  liberty  and  rest. 

Nor  was  this  unnatural.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  many  of 
the  greatest  minds,  both  of  antiquity  and  modem  times,  whether 
the  influence  they  exerted  on  society  be  good  or  bad,  have  mani- 
fested a  marked  and  strong  tendency  to  acknowledge  the  existence 
and  agency  of  some  great  and  mysterious  being,  obedience  to  whose 
dictates  was  to  lead  and  support  them  in  their  course,  and  insure 
the  success  for  which  they  panted.  Those  well  versed  in  their 
respective  systems  of  philosophy  inform  us,  that  both  Pythagoras 
and  Plato  taught  that  '  in  the  universe  of  things,  there  is  nothing 
that  happens  unadvisedly,  or  by  chance  ;  but  all  things  depend  on 
the  force  and  efficacie  of  their  ideal  causes,'  in  the  Divine  mind. 
The  Demon  in  which  Socrates  believed  was  a  still  more  interesting 
form  of  the  same  principle.  The  Grecians  founded  the  most  of 
their  colonies  under  the  professed  guidance  of  oracles,  directing 
them  agreeably  to  the  will  of  their  gods.  The  Romans  consulted 
similar  guides,  and  watched  the  flight  of  birds,  and  examined  the 
entrails  of  beasts,  for  like  purposes.  In  modem  times,  all  his 
biographers  agree  in  designating  it  as  a  marked  peculiarity  in  Na- 
poleon, that  his  mysterious  ideas  concerning  his  own  '  destiny,'  yet 
to  be  accomplished,  operated  as  powerful  stimulants  to  his  natu- 
rally energetic  mind.  In  the  trying  circumstances  of  war,  the  most 
distinguished  commanders  are  in  the  habit  of  appealing,  in  a  similar 
way,  to  Heaven,  knowing  the  influence  of  such  an  act  on  the  souls 
of  their  followers.  And  the  late  Lord  Byron  is  exhibited  as  de- 
riving a  degree  of  consolation,  under  a  severe  domestic  affliction, 
by  a  recurrence  to  this  theory.  The  human  mind  appears  to  need 
the  practical  acknowledgement  of  '  a  present  Deity,'  to  support 


n 

and  animate  it  to  high  exertion  amid  the  difficukies  of  life.  Our 
fathers,  ever  recognizing  the  truth  as  received  in  its  purity  from 
Divine  revelation,  went  forth  in  its  energy  and  accomplished  uiiat 
they  did.  This  was  the  great  point  around  which  their  character 
was  formed,  and  from  which  their  glory  radiated. 

The  conduct  it  produced  presses  on  our  attention  other  impor- 
tant truths.  Their  landing  on  this  rock,  and  its  consequences, 
forcibly  exhibit  the  means  and  advantages  of  firm  frankness  in  the 
declaration  and  support  of  great  principles.  Who  would  now  say, 
he  had  rather  the  puritans  had  never  spoken  and  acted  as  they  did 
in  relation  to  the  abuses  of  the  English  court  and  hierarchy  ? 
Where  would  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  freedom  probably  now 
have  been  throughout  the  world,  had  they  remained  silent  and  in- 
active?— '  If  liberty,  extinguished  on  the  continent,  had  been  suf- 
fered to  expire  there,  whence  was  it  ever  to  have  emerged  in  the 
midst  of  that  thick  night  that  would  have  invested  it  ? ' — And  yet, 
there  were  thousands  of  noble  spirits  in  England,  who  deprecated 
what  was  represented  as  the  stubbornness  of  the  Puritans.  They 
were  persecuted  in  soul,  more  than  in  body.  They  were  made  the 
subjects  of  ridicule  by  court  and  king.  They  were  the  jest  of  the 
scoffer  and  wine-bibber  throughout  the  kingdom.  They  were 
parted  from  their  families,  deprived  of  their  support,  and  shut  up  in 
the  common  prisons.  The  whole  influence  of  what  men  of  fine 
sensibilities  most  dread, — odium  and  scorn,  misrepresentation  and 
ridicule  in  high  places, — was  sent  forth  against  them.  Yet,  amid 
all  the  boisterous  waves  of  human  passion,  they  were  '  firm 
as  the  surge-repelling  rock,' — steadily  standing  by  the  success 
or  failure  of  their  avowed  principles !  In  every  puritan,  was 
found  such  a  character  as  is  so  admirably  described  and  admired 
by  the  Roman  poet,*  '  a  man  so  just  and  tenacious  of  prin- 
ciple,  that  neither  the  clamors  of  a    raging  populace,    nor   the 


♦  ' Justum  el  tenacem  propositi  viriim 
Non  civium  ardor  prava  jubentiuin, 
Non  vultus  instantis  tyraniii 

Mcnte  quatit  solida. 

****** 
Si  fractus  illabitur  orbis, 
Impaviilum  ferieiit  riiinn!.' 

HoR.  Car.  I,ib.  III.  .3. 


18 

firowns  of  a  threatening  tyrant,  could  ever  shake  him.  from  his  firm 
resolve.'  It  would  scarcely  be  too  much  to  add,  in  the  sentiment 
of  the  same  writer,  that  had  the  great  globe  itself  fallen,  the  puritan 
would  have  been  found  fearless  amid  its  ruins ! — The  means  of 
this  their  firmness,  I  have  already  exhibited,  in  what  has  been 
said  :  on  its  advantages,  it  becomes  us  to  dwell,  at  this  time,  with 
uiterest.  The  fearless  declaration  of  great  truths  arouses  into  ac- 
tivity the  public  mind.  Never  was  there,  in  the  whole  history  of 
mankind,  a  greater  display  of  the  noble  energies  of  mind,  than  is 
presented  in  the  history  of  England,  during  the  celebrated  seven- 
teenth century, — the  age  of  the  Puritans.  Then,  Coke,  and 
Hampden,  and  Raleigh,  and  Selden,  and  Owen,  and  Howe,  and 
Baxter,  cast  the  splendor  of  their  intellects  on  the  principles  of 
law  and  rehgion,  and  left  witnesses  for  themselves  for  after  ages  to 
consult,  and  award  them  their  meed  of  fame.  Then,  Newton 
commenced  those  discoveries  in  science,  which  have  made  his  name 
immortal,  and  Bacon  taught  succeeding  generations  his  system  of 
inductive  philosophy ;  then,  Shakspeare,  '  fancy's  child,'  had  his 
own  genius  warmed  by  the  fervor  of  the  times,  and  became  a  living 
original  of  the  picture  drav^Ti  by  himself — 

'  The  poet's  eye,  in  a  fine  frenzy  rolling, 
Doth  glance  from  heaven  to  earth,  from  eartli  to  heaven ; 
And,  as  imagination  bodies  forth 
The  forms  of  things  unknown,  the  poet's  pen 
Turns  them  to  shapes,  and  gives  to  airy  nothing 
A  local  habitation,  and  a  name  ; ' 

then,  Bunyan,  in  his  own  homely  figure,  pulled  and  it  came, 
until  he  left  a  sacred  drama,  over  which  piety  has  bent  with  de- 
light in  succeeding  ages,  and  shall  bend  and  be  dehghted  for  ages 
more  ;  then  Milton  awoke,  and  wTote, 

'  Things  iwattempted  yet  in  prose  or  rhyme,' — 

making  himself  the  companion  of  mighty  spirits,  who  remember 
him  by  the  associations  of  sympathy,  as  truly  as  by  the  study  of 
his  works.  The  firm  declaration  of  great  principles  aroused  men's 
souls.  It  was  like  striking  a  deep  tone  in  music  ;  all  equally 
chorded  instruments  vibrated  around  !  It  was  like  the  spear  of 
LaocDon  entering  the  trembling  sides  of  the  Grecian  horse  ;  mind. 


19 

armed  in  its  panoply,  sent  forth  an  answering  sound,  and  poured 
forth  its  powers,  until  the  citadels  of  error  tottered  to  their  base  ! 
It  becomes  us,  then,  to  recollect  that  the  firm  declaration  of  great 
principles  produces  such  an  effect,  and  never  to  shrink  from  their 
proclamation.  It  is  the  characteristic  of  error  to  practise  conceal- 
ment, and  assume  a  Protean  diversity  of  forms.  Tmth  speaks  out, 
whether  men  will  hear,  or  whether  they  will  forbear,  and  is  immu- 
table ! 

This  firm  declaration  of  principles  causes  their  advocates  to  en- 
dure the  self-denial  and  suiferings  necessary  for  their  propagation. 
Human  sympathy  is  thus  excited  in  their  favor,  and  men  begin  to 
acknowledge  the  sentiments  thus  nobly  maintained.  It  is  a  wise 
remark  of  Burke,  that  '  it  is  laid  in  the  unalterable  constitution  of 
things  : — None  can  aspire  to  act  greatly,  but  those  who  are  of  force 
greatly  to  suffer.'  I  believe  that  this  is  true  ;  and  that  it  is  a  tmth 
involving  matter  for  reflection  on  which,  were  there  time,  we  might 
profitably  ponder.  Admitting  it  as  just, — what  an  illustration  of  the 
power  of  suffering  in  acting  greatly  is  beheld  in  the  history  of  our 
fathers  !  The  fact  that  they  were  persecuted, — that  they  fled  from 
persecution, — that  they  came  in  suffering  and  poverty  to  a  desolate 
shore,  in  the  dreariness  of  winter,  and  reared  their  rude  habitations 
amid  the  '  pelting  of  the  pitiless  storm,'  and  the  ravages  of  dis- 
ease : — these  are  the  acts  which  give  power  to  their  principles  ; 
contrast  the  greatness  of  truth  with  the  littleness  of  error,  the  more 
strikingly ;  and  attract  the  eyes  of  multitudes  to  behold  her  love- 
liness, and  acknowledge  the  power  of  her  sway.  These  things 
qause  a  reaction  in  her  favor,  and  make  those  who  suffer  for  her 
sake  speak  the  more  loudly  and  successfully  in  her  cause.  Who, 
then,  would  have  the  case  of  the  Pilgrims  other  than  it  is  ?  Who 
would  not  rejoice  that  they  were  counted  worthy  thus  to  suffer  ? 
Who  would  not  rather  be  the  descendant  of  such  men  as  these, 
than  of  such  as  might  have  come  in  plenty,  and  power,  and  pride, 
to  gratify  their  selfishness,  and  enjoy  a  splendid  repose  ?  If  a 
heathen  could  declare,  that  a  great  man  struggling  with  adversity 
is  a  sight  worthy  of  the  gods  ;  shall  not  we  venerate  Christians 
thus  suffering,  with  Christian  fortitude,  for  conscience'  sake  ! 

It  is  by  the  firm  and  frank  declaration  of  great  principles,  then, 
that  the  minds  of  men  are  awakened  ;  and  their  reason  and  feel- 


20 

ings  drawn  forth  to  embrace  and  defend  them.  All  history  shows 
that  truth  has  ever  been  thus  advanced.  Columbus  declared  it  in 
the  midst  of  discouragement  and  silent  contempt,  for  years,  until 
at  last  the  difficulties  he  met  and  conquered  added  to  the  glory  of 
the  man  who  first  passed  the  portals  of  the  west,  and  lifted  the  veil 
that  hid  one  half  of  the  human  race  from  any  knowledge  of  the 
other.  Galileo  declared  it,  and  he  was  found  and  visited  by  a 
puritan,  when  grown  old,  and  a  prisoner  in  the  Inquisition,  for 
thinking  in  astronomy  otherwise  than  the  Franciscan  and  Domini- 
can friars  thought.  He  too  has  triumphed  proportionably  now. 
Tlie  reformers  never  would  have  reformed,  had  they  not  dared  to 
declare  their  sentiments.  The  Pilgrims  never  would  have  planted 
here  the  foundations  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  if  they  had  not 
possessed  the  courage  to  avow,  in  their  native  land,  and  in  the 
faces  of  their  enemies,  those  great  truths  on  which  all  liberty  is 
based. 

It  will  be  a  strong  motive  for  acting  under  the  influence  of  such 
sehtiments  as  these,  to  reflect  farther — that  the  firm  vindicators  of 
truth  shall  be  had  in  everlasting  remembrance.  If  ever  the  emo- 
tion of  moral  sublimity  rises  with  an  unspeakable  power  in  the 
human  mind,  it  is  when  the  bold  asserters  of  great  natural,  political, 
or  moral  truths  pass  through  the  fiery  ordeal  of  persecution,  and 
are  obscured  for  a  time,  in  the  deep  darkness  of  popular  denun- 
ciation, only  to  emerge,  at  last,  in  the  splendor  of  successful  effort, 
and  triumphant  truth.  This  will  ever  be  the  case  with  such  cham- 
pions of  right.  It  has  been  strikingly  so  with  the  discoverers  of 
disputed  natural  and  moral  tnith  in  other  days  ;  it  will  be  so  in  all 
time  to  come.  Not  only  must  truth  itself  be  eventually  acknowl- 
edged, and  therefore  its  vindicators  and  promoters  in  troublous  times 
be  proportionably  honored  ;  but  even  its  opposers  themselves  will 
find  a  palliative  to  conscious  unworthiness  in  admiring  virtue, 
when  its  distance  does  not  permit  it  to  come  in  contact  with  their 
own  passions,  and  condeimi,  directly,  their  own  deeds.  It  was  on 
this  principle  that  the  Jews  garnished  the  sepulchres  of  their 
fathers,  while  they  were  recreant  to  their  virtues  ; — and  it  will  be 
on  the  same  principle,  that  many,  in  all  time,  shall  honor  the  memory 
of  our  fathers,  though  they  may  hate  and  oppose  the  principles 
that  made  them  what  they  were ! 


21 

I  have  spoken  of  the  influence  of  a  practical  recognition  of  iUe 
Deity  in  leading  to  the  discovery  of  great  \mnciples,  and  producing 
firmness  in  the  declaration  of  them.  I  have  dwelt  also  on  the 
advantages  of  such  a  declaration  in  arousing  the  public  mind,  ex- 
citing an  interest  in  the  truth,  and  causing  its  advocates  to  be  had 
in  everlasting  remembrance.  What  a  testimony  for  the  truth  of 
these  positions  do  we  find  in  the  history  of  Old  and  New  England, 
for  the  last  two  centuries. 

The  former,  though  she  persecuted  the  Puritans,  has  nevertlieless, 
held  to  their  great  leading  principles  as  established  at  the  Rtforma- 
tion  ;  and  the  operation  of  these,  notwithstanding  great  comparative 
imperfection  in  carrying  them  out  to  their  consequences,  particularly 
in  ecclesiastical  government,  has  made  her  a  noble  spectacle  to  all 
nations.  In  natural  science,  she  has  given  to  the  world  the  greatest 
Mathematician  and  Astronomer  it  has  ever  known.  The  father  of 
inductive  philosophy,  and  the  dissector  of  the  human  understanding 
were  her  sons.  While,  in  morals  and  religion,  time  would  fail, 
were  we  to  enter  on  an  enumeration  of  the  great  minds  she  has  pro- 
duced. More  than  all,  England  has  stood  out  before  the  world,  in 
one  of  its  darkest  periods,  as  the  advocate  of  moral  principles,  when 
all  principles,  but  those  of  selfishness,  seem  to  have  been  despised. 
When  the  most  refined  nation  of  the  continent  avowedly  dethroned 
the  Almighty,  and  declared  Christianity  a  lie,  her  priesthood  im- 
postors, and  death  an  eternal  sleep  ;  when  the  mighty  convul- 
sions of  human  passion  that  ensued  brought  forth,  at  last,  the  child 
of  revolution,  who,  availing  himself  of  the  awful  crisis,  made  it 
bend  to  his  ambition,  filled  all  Europe  with  slaughter,  and  put 
his  foot  on  the  necks  of  her  proudest  kings  ; — England  remained 
firm  in  her  adherence  to  moral  and  political  truth  ;  and  when 
the  hearts  of  men  were  failing  them  through  fear,  she  stood  forth 
amid  the  tempest,  like  Moses  from  amid  the  thunders  of  Mount 
Sinai,  holding  in  her  hands  the  law  for  mankind  !  Who  can  esti- 
mate the  extent  and  power  of  her  influence,  at  that  tinie,  over 
the  public  mind  ?  Where  will  you  go  for  a  spectacle  of  greater 
moral  sublimity  than  is  exhibited  in  her  conduct  then  ?  When 
will  she  be  forgotten  by  succeeding  generations  ?     When  will  the 


22 

friends  of  liberty  and  law  cease  to  love  her  with  all  her  faults  ? 
At  this  moment,  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  world  she  is  found, 
the  friend  and  protector  of  moral  principles ;  giving  ample  proof, 
that 


'  Where  Britain's  pow'r 

Is  felt,  mankind  may  feel  her  mercy  too  ! ' 

Although  our  own  land  is  in  its  infancy,  compared  with  that  of 
our  fathers,  yet,  already  have  we  drawn  the  lightning  from  the 
clouds  of  heaven,  and  given  to  the  world,  in  the  new  applica- 
tion of  steam,  that  which  almost  annihilates  space,  and  is  doing 
more  to  connect  man  with  man,  in  the  intercourse  of  life,  than 
has  ever  been  done  before.  In  religious  philosophy,  our  own 
Edwards  has  left  works  now  studied  and  admired  by  the  profoundest 
minds  in  Europe ;  while  the  sympathy  our  successful  struggles 
for  freedom  have  excited  is  producing  an  effect,  at  this  moment, 
in  more  than  one  nation  of  the  European  world.  It  would  not, 
probably,  be  too  much  to  say,  that  there  is  not  a  kingdom  which 
does  not,  in  some  degree,  feel  our  influence.  Even  in  England 
itself,  the  principles  of  our  fathers,  though  their  authors  have  been 
dead  for  centuries,  yet  live,  and  operate  ;  advancing  step  by  step, 
— and  of  late  moving  onward  so  rapidly,  that  her  long  established 
hierarchy  and  nobility  begin  to  feel  their  power. 

The  past,  then,  is,  at  least,  secured.  We,  the  descendants 
of  the  Pilgrims,  may  prove  faithless  to  the  high  tmst  com- 
mitted to  our  care, — ^reckless  of  those  great  truths  for  which 
they  toiled  and  suffered,  and  were  willing  to  die.  But,  their 
memory  shall  still  hve !  Wherever  the  great  principles  of  lib- 
erty they  established  shall  be  valued,  they  will  be  reverenced. 
Even  though  such  principles,  themselves,  shall  be  disregarded, 
yet,  while  man  continues  what  he  is,  a  being  of  conscience 
and  reason,  there  will  be  multitudes  who  will  honor  those, 
whose  sentiments  they  may  be  ashamed  to  avow  and  vindicate. 
The  record  of  their  deeds  is  stamped,  indelibly,  on  the  history  of 
time  ;  their  names  are  already  chronicled  with  the  master-spirits  of 
the  world !  As  the  shipwrecked  mariners  of  Rome  were  wont  to 
hang  the  pictures  of  their  disasters  in  the  temple  of  Neptune,  to 
keep  alive  the  record  of  their  dangers  and  escape  ;  so  have  the 


23 

Fathers  of  New  England  left  a  memorial  of  their  trials  and  their 
triumph  on  the  aspect  of  the  world  ;  and  they  shall  be  had  in  ever- 
lasting remembrance.  Providence, — turning,  wheel  within  wheel, 
as  in  the  sublime  vision  of  the  prophet,  labors  on  the  side  of  truth. 
It  is  but  preparing  for  her  more  glorious  appearance,  after  all 
changes,  and  the  more  permanent  victory  of  her  faithful  adherents. 
The  nature  of  the  human  mind  itself,  even  when  its  operations  are 
those  of  guilt,  is  still,  in  some  important  respects,  in  her  favor; 
and  the  very  wrath  of  man  shall  be  made,  eventually,  subservient 
to  her  praise. 

But,  God  forbid  that  the  supposition  I  have  dared  to  imagine, 
of  our  desertion  and  disregard  of  these  principles,  shall  ever 
be  anything  but  imaginary.  God  forbid  that  we  should  not  here, 
on  the  rock  of  their  toil,  give  ourselves  anew  to  the  duty  of  hon- 
oring them  by  our  future  actions,  as  truly  as  by  our  present  words. 
Here,  then,  on  this  rock,  from  which  we  have  been  taking  a  survey 
of  those  great  truths  with  which  it  is,  and  shall  be  forever  associated, 
here  let  us  pledge  ourselves  to  be  true  to  our  fathers  !  Look 
hence,  abroad  over  our  beloved  country  !  How  much  is  there  to 
encourage  us  !  Twelve  millions  of  freemen  blessed  by  the  influ- 
ence of  those  from  whom  many  of  you  have  descended  !  The 
sails  of  our  commerce  flapping  in  every  breeze ; — our  flag  hon- 
ored abroad,  and  waving  over  a  vast  extent  of  territory  at  home  ; 
— agriculture  and  manufactures,  hand  in  hand,  leading  us  rapidly  to 
a  noble  independence  from  all  other  lands,  and  pouring  into  our 
coffers  the  wealth  produced  by  their  joint  exertions  !  All  this  has 
been  done,  through  the  influence  of  those,  whose  characters  and 
actions  we  now  commemorate. 

But,  is  there  nothing  discouraging  before  us  ?  We  have  beheld 
the  bright  part  of  the  picture  ;  let  us  not  be  afraid  to  gaze  on  any- 
thing threatening,  or  dark,  and  to  bear  ourselves  accordingly. 
Such  a  spirit  would  dishonor  the  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims.  Is 
there  not  ground  for  the  apprehension  that  many  in  our  land  are 
beginning  to  deny  the  agency  and  government  of  that  Being,  whom 
our  fathers,  following  and  obeying,  made  their  constant  instructor 
in  great  truths, — their  constant  guide  and  support  in  great  actions  ? 
Are  there  not  many  avowed  atheists  rising  in  the  midst  of  the  sons 
of  New  England  ?     As  the  sure  result  of  this,  are  there  not  many, 


S4 

who,  in  the  spirit  of  licentiousness  and  not  of  true  liberty,  are 
disposed  to  deny  the  correctness  of  the  distinctions  arising 
from  moral  and  intellectual  endowments ;  and  in  a  spirit  of  radi- 
calism are  aiming  to  break  down  the  necessary  relations  of  well- 
ordered  society,  that  they  may  raise  the  degraded  to  stations  for 
which  they  are  not  fitted,  and  the  ignorant  to  the  management  of 
concerns  which  they  cannot  clearly  comprehend.  Are  not  many 
endeavoring  to  create  a  collision  between  the  rich  and  poor, — be- 
tween professional  and  working  men  ;  as  if  the  wealthy  do  not  con- 
stantly send  forth  from  their  coffers  that  of  which  poverty  may 
avail  itself  to  improve  its  condition  ;  and  the  scholar  did  not 
work  for  the  public  good  with  his  mind,  as  truly  as  the  me- 
chanic or  husbandmen  labor  for  it  with  their  hands  ?  Is  not  tlie 
rapid  and  increasing  influx  of  foreigners,  unacquainted,  to  a 
great  degree,  with  the  nature  of  our  institutions — and  withal, 
not  unfrequently  ignorant  and  degraded, — yet  soon  admitted  to 
the  privilege  of  voting  at  the  ballot  box,  rapidly  becoming  not 
an  imaginary  danger?  And,  as  the  worthies  of  our  revolu- 
tion have  now  nearly  departed, — and  one  of  the  brightest  links 
connecting  us  with  that  eventful  crisis,  has  of  late  been  broken 
in  the  demise  of  Lafayette, — is  there  not  some  ground  for 
the  fear,  that  our  people  may  gradually  forget  the  price  our 
liberties  have  cost,  and  begin  to  esteem  them  too  lightly ;  while 
the  power  of  ambition,  and  its  accompanying  passions,  may  avail, 
in  the  struggle  for  office  and  its  emoluments,  to  break  that  sacred 
charm,  hitherto  binding  us  us  to  the  freedom  of  our  country  ? 
Add  to  all  this,  a  system,  in  many  of  the  States,  creating  a  diversity 
of  mercantile  and  agricultural  interests,  a  radical  difference  of  mind 
and  manners,  and  a  dangerous  jealousy  of  feelings,  which  lay  a 
foundation  for  constant  distrust,  and  sometimes  for  what  ap- 
proaches to  the  nature  of  rancour  between  those  who  should  be 
chief  friends.  I  allude  to  the  system  of  southern  slavery : — a  sys- 
tem we  all  deplore ;  and  to  deal  with  which,  as  it  ought  to  be  dealt 
with,  a  comprehensive  mind  and  benevolent  heart  are  needed,  if 
ever  such  things  were  in  requisition,  in  the  history  of  our  land. 

These  dangers  have  now  been  mentioned,  not  to  excite  needless 
alarm,  but  that  we  may  dare  to  look  at  them,  and  in  the  spirit  of 
those  great  truths  on  which  we  have  been  dwelling,  as  connected 
with  the  history  of  our  fathers, — meet  and  counteract  them.     To 


25 

do  this,  permit  me  to  call  your  attention  to  another  great  trutli  as- 
sociated with  this  occasion.  It  is,  that  no  changes  for  the  good  of 
mankind  can  be  permanent  and  progressive,  unless  they  be  radical. 
By  this  I  mean,  that  the  principles  on  which  such  changes  proceed, 
shall  not  only  be  acknowledged  by  the  head,  but  be  seated  in  the 
heart  of  the  people.  I  mean  that  such  changes  should  be  estab- 
lished on  a  sincere  and  deeply-rooted  love  for  them ;  that  they 
should  not  be  merely  external,  and  effected  or  acquiesced  in  from 
cold  convictions  of  duty,  or  because  circumstances  would  not  let 
them  be  avoided  ;  but  because  the  people  over  whom  they  are  to 
exert  influence,  desired  them  as  a  good,  and  sought  after,  and  en- 
joyed them  accordingly.  I  mean  also,  that  in  endeavoring  to  pro- 
duce them,  we  should  bear  constantly  in  mind,  that  the  duty  of 
laboring  to  create  the  feeling  on  which  all  external  rectitude,  to 
be  genuine,  can  alone  be  founded,  is  never  to  be  intermitted  or  In- 
terfered with ;  but  that  the  production  of  this  love  for  duty  must 
be  the  chief  end,  and  all  others,  however  important,  must  be  sul)- 
crdinated  to  this ;  othenvise  we  shall  never  pemianently  eficct  our 
object.  In  a  word,  it  is  more  important  to  bring  the  public  mind 
to  the  heartfelt  acknowledgement  of  the  agency  of  God,  and  ac- 
countability to  him,  as  it  existed  and  operated  in  the  hearts  of  the 
Pilgrims,  than  it  is  to  promote  any  other  changes  in  society,  how- 
ever beneficial.  And  this,  for  the  plain  reason,  that  unless  it  be 
brought  to  such  a  heartfelt,  practical  acknowledgement  of  the 
Deity,  in  all  its  actings,  the  feeling  on  which  you  can  alone  found 
permanent  and  progressive  good,  does  not,  and  cannot  exist.  It  is 
well  to  summon  men  to  the  accomplishment  of  some  virtuous  cnler- 
prize.  It  is  well  to  persuade  them  to  give  up  some  destructive 
sin.  These  things  ought  we  to  do.  But,  there  is  another,  and  a 
greater  thing  we  are  not  to  leave  undone.  It  is  to  persuade  them 
to  feel  and  manifest  a  cordial  and  practical  acknowledgement  of 
God,  as  their  moral  governor,  in  all  their  ways.  Otherwise,  how- 
ever well  you  may  succeed,  for  a  time,  by  the  influence  of  motives, 
operating,  in  different  forms,  on  human  selfishness,  in  promoting 
your  benevolent  designs,  you  only  '  scotch  the  snake,  not  kill  it.' 
The  passions  of  men,  unchanged  and  uncontrolled  by  the  fear  of 
God,  will  still  be  like  an  unndy  and  boisterous  flood  ;  obstructed 
at  one  point,  they  will  rush,  in  an  impetuous  ton'ent,  to  some 


26 

weaker  embankment,  and  finding  a  new  outlet,  rejoice  in  their 
power  to  move  ravingly  onward  to  their  precipice.  There  is  a 
principle  of  selfishness  in  the  human  heart,  the  fi-uitful  source  of  all 
evils,  and  the  great  obstacle  in  the  way  of  all  good,  which, 


'  Vital  in  every  pait, 

Cannot,  but  by  onniliilating,  die.' 

The  fear  of  God  in  the  heart,  alone  can  slay  it ;  and  therefore, 
if  you  would  have  any  great  change  for  the  good  of  mankind  per- 
manent and  progressive,  this  fear  must  be  implanted;  and  the 
change,  being  radical,  will  be  successful.  Our  fathers,  we  have 
seen,  possessed  it;  and,  through  toil,  danger,  persecution  and 
death,  they  urged  forward  their  principles  to  a  glorious  consum- 
mation. 

It  is  impracticable  to  enter  on  any  minute  examination  of  their 
history  here  ;  but  it  would  be  easy  to  show,  that  so  long  as  they 
proceeded  on  this  great  truth,  in  the  administration  of  their  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  government,  they  w^ere  successful ;  but,  w^hen- 
ever  they  departed  firom  it,  and  endeavored  to  insure  a  merely 
external  adherence  to  what  is  right,  and  a  constrained  obedience 
to  their  laws,  they  lost  ground.  We  admit  that  the  circumstances 
in  which  they  were  placed  in  relation  to  England,  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  times  in  which  they  lived,  rendered  it  natural,  and  for 
aught  we  can  see,  necessary,  that  they  should  have  made  church- 
membership  essential  to  the  character  of  a  freeholder,  and  should 
have  excluded  opposing  sects  in  religion  from  the  privileges  of  their 
government.  But,  whatever  may  have  been  the  necessities  of 
their  case,  at  that  peculiar  crisis  of  their  history,  no  one»probably 
will  now  maintain  that  such  proceedings  were  either  right,  or  expe- 
dient, as  a  general  rule  of  conduct.  No  one  will,  probably,  main- 
tain that  they  did  not  lose  ground  while  they  continued  to  persist 
in  them,  after  the  peculiar  circumstances  in  which  they  originated, 
had  passed  away.  The  fact  that  both  measures  have  been  laid 
aside,  in  the  progress  of  free  principles  ;  and  that  the  last  link  con- 
neetijig  Church  and  State  in  this  Commonwealth  has,  happily, 
been  broken,  by  abolishing  the  law  requiring  a  general  assessment 
for  the  support  of  public  worship,  is  a  sufficient  evidence  of  the 
State  of  public  opinion  on  this  point. 


27 

Apply  this  principle,  then,  to  the  clangers  we  have  noticed,  as 
now  threatening  the  best  interests  of  this  country,  and  it  will  lead 
to  important  conclusions  relative  to  our  duty  in  supporting  and  ad- 
vancing the  institutions  of  our  fathers.  It  is  admitted,  that  there 
are  atheists  and  disorganizers  in  the  midst  of  us,  and  no  one  can 
reasonably  deny,  that  within  a  few  years,  they  have  been  alarm- 
ingly increasing.  What  shall  be  done  ?  Shall  we  stifle  their 
voice  ?  Shall  we  call  on  the  strong  arm  of  the  civil  law  to  inter- 
fere and  crush  them  ?  I  answer,  on  the  strength  of  the  principle 
we  are  now  considering.  No.  Let  them  speak  out  in  the  vindica- 
tion of  their  sentiments  ;  and  so  long  as  they  put  forth  no  overt  act 
of  transgression  against  the  laws,  and  hinder  not  others  in  the  de- 
claration and  advancement  of  their  religious  opinions,  let  them  speak 
through  the  public  press,  with  the  utmost  freedom.  If  }'ou  prose- 
cute them,  you  give  them  an  advantage  by  that  very  act,  and 
make  it  far  more  difficult  to  overthrow  their  erroneous  senti- 
ments. By  such  an  act,  you  not  only,  in  a  great  degree,  separate 
them  from  yourselves,  and  lose  the  opportunity  of  convincing  their 
intellects,  and  awakening  their  consciences,  and  affecting  their 
hearts,  by  the  weight  of  your  own  arguments  ;  but  you  give  them 
all  that  power  derived  from  the  fact  that  they  suffer  for  conscience' 
sake  ;  a  power,  which  the  speaker  is  inclined  to  believe,  possesses 
more  magic  influence  over  the  popular  mind,  in  favor  of  any  sys- 
tem that  may  be  the  subject  of  it,  than  almost  anything  else  be- 
side. He  would  not,  therefore,  permit  error  to  have  so  great  an 
advantage  over  truth.  No,  let  it  be  met  fairly  with  the  panoply 
of  mind.  In  the  words  of  a  puritan,  on  this  very  subject,  of  '  the 
liberty  of  unlicensed  printing' — I  again  allude  to  Milton, — 
*  Though  all  the  winds  of  doctrine  be  let  loose  to  play  upon  the 
earth,  so  truth  be  in  the  field,  we  do  injuriously  by  licensing  and 
prohibiting  to  misdoubt  her  strength.  I^et  her  and  Falsehood 
grapple.  Who  ever  knew  truth  put  to  the  worse,  in  a  free  and 
open  encounter  ? ' 

In  like  manner,  if  dangers  beset  us  from  the  vast  immigration  of 
foreigners,  ignorant  of  our  free  institutions,  and  multitudes  of  them 
degraded  in  character  ;  let  the  only  aegis  for  our  protection  be  the 
shield  of  truth.  Let  us  teach  them  the  i)rinciples  of  our  fathers. 
Taught  to  serve  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  the  blessed 


28 

and  only  Potentate,  they  will  become  useful  citizens  of  a  free  re- 
public ;  otherwise,  they  will  become  its  worse  pests,  if  not  its 
certain  destruction.  And  if  endangered  by  the  gradual  forgetful- 
ness,  in  our  citizens,  of  the  price  that  was  paid  for  our  liberties, 
and  the  shallowness  of  the  conviction  of  their  real  value  now  that 
they  are  possessed ;  what  so  likely  to  keep  alive  the  recollection 
of  their  price  and  worth,  as  the  spreading  abroad  among  all  our 
people,  of  the  love  of  that  Being,  one  of  the  great  duties  to  whom 
is,  a  remembrance  of  all  the  way  in  which  He  has  led  us  ;  and 
a  constant  attention  to  the  public  good  ? 

Does  slavery  hang,  like  a  dark  cloud,  full  of  lightning  and  storm, 
— portentous, — over  some  of  the  fairest  portions  of  our  land  ?  Let 
us  calmly  observe, — let  us  dread, — let  us  hate  it, — let  us  strive,  as 
one  man,  like  our  own  Franklin,  gazing  on  the  thunder-cloud, 
to  disarm  it  of  its  terrors,  and  dissipate,  and  annihilate  it  forever ! 
But  how  ?  How  ?  By  standing  at  a  distance, — the  distance  of 
hundreds  of  miles, — and  crying  out,  of  danger,  and  death,  and 
crime  ;  and  upbraiding  the  unhappy  victims  who  are  exposed  to 
the  gathering  tempest — partly,  be  it  remembered,  through  our  own 
instrumentality — as  murderers,  man-stealers,  and  pirates  ?  No,  my 
fellow-citizens — but  by  approaching,  and  presenting  to  that  dark 
storm,  the  moral  conductors  of  heaven  !  In  plain  language,  by  re- 
lying mainly,  for  the  removal  of  that  awful  curse,  on  the  fear  of 
God,  in  the  hearts  of  our  Southern  brethren.  If  you  do  not  make 
this  the  foundation  of  your  appeal  to  them,  even  though  you  may 
destroy  slavery  as  an  external  evil,  you  will  leave  them  and  their 
negroes,  still  the  victims  of  a  more  degrading  and  dangerous  bond- 
age, and  slaves  of  the  most  cniel  of  all  task-masters.  The  bond- 
age of  sin,  and  the  service  of  Satan,  I  confidently  assert  to  be  a 
greater  evil,  and  one  more  dangerous  in  its  aspect  on  our  institu- 
tions, and  the  temporal  happiness  of  ourselves  and  fellow-citizens, 
in  the  North  or  South,  at  the  East,  or  in  the  far  West ;  whether 
bond  or  free,  than  all  other  evils  combined.  Like  the  fabled 
box  of  Pandora,  this  contains  the  elements  of  all  our  troubles. 
This  being  the  case,  it  follows  in  my  mind,  that  no  system  of  mea- 
sures for  the  abolition  of  slavery  can  be  either  right  or  expedient, 
which  is  calculated  to  shut  out  your  preachers  of  righteousness, 
and  your  instructors  of  youth,  from  free  and  welcome  access  to  the 


^Jfl^ 


S9 

southern  section  of  our  country.  Go  then  to  the  henevoh^iit  in 
our  Southern,  as  well  as  in  our  Northern  States.  Combine  your 
reasonings,  and  feelings,  and  efibrts  with  them,  in  the  spirit  of  tlie 
Gospel  of  Christ,  and  on  those  benevolent  foundations  it  has  laid 
for  such  appeals  deep  in  the  heart  of  every  Christian,  and  you  may 
cherish  the  reasonable  hope  of  calming  the  troubled  elements,  and 
dispersing  the  gathering  clouds,  ere  the  storm  burst.  IMore  than 
all,  go,  telling  them  that  under  different  degrees  of  guilt,  \xc  are 
all  equally  transgressors ;  tell  them,  that  even  in  the  liistory  of 
Plymouth  colony,  it  is  recorded,  that  the  son  of  king  Philiji,  and 
many  of  his  warriors  were  sold  as  slaves  ;  and  as  brethren,  mingle 
your  tears  in  a  common  penitence,  and  encourage  eacli  othci-'s 
hearts  to  a  common  reformation  !  But,  if  you  take  a  diiii  rent 
course, — if  you  keep  at  the  distance  of  leagues  from  those  }  our 
brethren,  and  say, — '  Stand  by  thyself,  I  am  holier  than  thou  ! ' — 
what  can  we  expect,  from  all  we  know  of  human  nature,  but  tliat 
rancorous  passions  will  be  roused  in  the  breasts  of  the  great  ma- 
jority of  the  South,  and  the  opportunity  of  disseminating  among 
them  the  only  radical  principle  of  great  changes, — the  fear  of  God 
in  the  heart  of  man, — be  denied  us  !  Then,  what  will  become  of 
the  poor  slave  ;  and  where  will  be  the  best  temporal  and  s[)iritual 
interests  of  his  master  ?  If  ever  the  mind  of  another  Burke  was 
needed  to  throw  out  before  an  excited  people,  those  great  princi- 
ples which  should  guide  them  on  this  question,  it  is  neeck^d  now  ! 
*0  rise  some  other  such  ! '  There  is  action  enough,  but  we  want 
principle  to  guide  action. 

As,  then,  the  practical  recognition  of  the  God  of  our  Fatliers 
leads  us  to  greatness,  so  will  it  deliver  us  from  the  dangers  that  are 
connected  with  greatness.  As  it  will  preserve  us  from  the  mise- 
ries of  despotism  on  the  one  hand,  so  will  it  save  us  from  those 
of  radicalism  on  the  other.  As  it  will  lead  us  to  meet  cheerfully, 
and  act  promptly  and  rightly  in  circvxmstances  that  are  new,  so  will 
it  cause  lis  to  venerate,  and  so  far  as  possible  preserve,  whatever  of 
truth  may  be  found  in  what  is  old.  The  great  and  fundamental 
principles  of  freedom  resulting  from  the  practical  recognition  of 
the  Deity  are  as  immutable  as  his  own  eternal  nature.  They  may 
assume,  in  the  varying  circumstances  of  man's  existence,  different 
forms  of  action  ;  but  like  the  providential  movements  of  Jehovah 


30 

himself,  they  are,  in  all  their  appearances,  whether  mild  or  severe, 
expressions  only  of  the  same  benevolent  love.  In  their  operation, 
therefore,  on  the  soul  of  man,  they  prepare  him  to  receive  right 
impressions,  producing  right  actions, — from  things  present  and  past, 
— things  new  and  old.  In  the  present  instance,  we  need  their  in- 
fluence cis  we  contemplate  what  is  past.  Here,  then, — subject  to 
their  power, — let  us  gaze  on  these  scenes,  and  receive  the  impres- 
sion they  are  calculated  to  make !  That  rock, — that  ocean, — these 
hills, — those  graves  ! — '  the  graves  of  those  that  cannot  die  ! ' — to 
him  who  gazes  on  them  in  the  fear  of  the  God  of  our  fathers, — are 
eloquent.  They  speak  to  us  of  truths  immutable  as  Heaven, — 
precious  as  the  happiness  of  earth  !  Let  us  open  our  souls  to  re- 
ceive their  hallowed  influence,  in  all  its  fulness, — ^in  all  its  power ! 
Let  us  pray,  that  the  spirit  of  the  Pilgrims  may  be  our  spirit ;  their 
God,  our  God.  And  in  the  strength  of  that  moral  feeling  which 
the  contemplation  of  what  is  old,  is  calculated  to  produce  in  sound 
minds, — let  us  ever  venerate,  and  keep  aliv^e  their  memories  and 
their  sentiments, — ^let  us  act  worthy  of  our  sires,  and  the  world 
shall  yet  be  emancipated  by  the  principles  associated  with 
Plymouth  rock  ! 


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